A Month Of Kaider

Twenty Eight: Fully Grown Puddle

A/N: Warning: implied drowning.

Cinder stares at the water pooling around her feet.

Even though she's standing in the middle of the room, she can't escape the liquid seeping in through the walls. She doesn't want to think about why this room was originally designed but there's not a lot else to ponder, except how long she can hold her breath.

She tries banging on all the walls, prying open the door, disabling the security and whatever else she can think of. The water has reached as high as her knees by the time she decides she can't do anything and retreats to the centre of the room, folding her arms.

She stands there for longer than she should and she knows she should keep moving to avoid getting too cold but she doesn't feel like doing anything active, other than actively worrying.

It's completely unexpected when she hears the shrill sound of a mobile ringing, of her mobile ringing.

"Wait, what?" she asks aloud, patting her pockets.

Sure enough, her mobile is ringing inside her hoodie pocket.

"Oh, thank the stars," she breathes into the phone as she answers it.

"Where exactly are you?" Thorne asks immediately. "Actually, it doesn't matter, we can find out ourselves. Well, Cress can..."

"Thorne, I can't swim," Cinder says, barely hearing what he's saying.

"Swim? Why do you need to know how to swim?" he asks.

"I can't unlock the door from the inside," she carries on.

"Cinder? Cinder, calm down!" she hears Scarlet yell.

Closing her eyes, she wades through the water – that's now reached halfway up her thighs- until she reaches a wall, leaning against it and exhaling slowly. "I'm calm."

"What happened?"

"Levana."

She can hear Winter start to explain who Levana is in the background and she's only half surprised that they're all together.

"Okay, look, Cinder, just stay there, I can figure out where you are." Cress sounds like she's halfway to doing just that already.

Cinder laughs to herself as she looks around. "It's not like I can go anywhere."

She has to stuff the phone back into her pocket as something thuds against the door, only for it to turn transparent a moment later. She hadn't even realised that the door was just tinted glass and not metal.

"That's not good." She hears Kai announce quietly.

"Gee, thanks, I hadn't realised," Cinder mutters back, her voice shaky.

She regrets the words as soon as they leave her mouth but Kai smiles at her, his mouth quirking into a smile.

"I didn't think that such people existed who kept their sarcasm even in times of great peril."

Cinder laughs at his tone, walking over to the glass door.

"Are you okay?" she asks, her voice barely loud enough to be classed as a whisper.

Kai nods. "I'm not the one who's stood in a rather large puddle."

"Puddle?" Cinder echoes.

"A rather large puddle," Kai corrects.

Cinder shakes her head, leaning her forehead on the glass. "You're so strange,"

"That's why you love me," Kai whispers back.